Returns & profit
The refund isn't the cost — the customer gets their money back and you get your product back. The cost is everything that doesn't come back: the shipping fee, the ad click, the unit that can't be resold. This adds it up. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you enter leaves this page.
Where each return's cost goes
per returned unit
Monthly profit as returns rise
same orders and costs, different return rates
By return rate
| Return rate | Returns / mo | Return cost / mo | Profit / mo | Margin |
|---|
Margin = profit ÷ revenue you keep (sales that weren't refunded).
Tap any in the calculator to jump to its explanation here.
What you enter
Units you ship to customers in a typical month, counting the ones that later come back.
Where to find it: Amazon Business Reports → units ordered; Shopify → orders. Use a 3-month average.
↑ back to the calculatorWhat the customer pays for one unit, before your fees. When they return it, this is refunded in full, so it isn't a cost — the money just never stays.
↑ back to the calculatorOf every 100 units sold, how many come back.
Where to find it: Amazon Seller Central → Voice of the Customer or the FBA customer returns report, divided by units sold over the same period. Rough guide: low single digits for most hard goods, higher for electronics, often 20% or more for apparel and shoes.
↑ back to the calculatorWhat one unit costs you to make or buy and get into stock: product, packaging, freight, duty. If the returned unit can't be sold again, this is what you lose.
↑ back to the calculatorThe percentage the marketplace takes from each sale — Amazon's referral fee (often 15%), Etsy's transaction and processing fees, eBay's final value fee. On a refund Amazon gives most of it back; see the refund admin fee below.
↑ back to the calculatorWhat it costs to get the order to the customer: the FBA fulfillment fee, or your postage and packing if you ship it yourself. This is never refunded when the item comes back — it's the biggest hidden cost of a return.
↑ back to the calculatorYour total ad spend divided by all orders, ads or not. A returned sale still paid for the click that brought it, so this money is lost too.
Example: $1,800 ad spend ÷ 600 orders = $3.00.
↑ back to the calculatorWhen Amazon refunds a customer, it returns your referral fee but keeps 20% of it, up to $5 per item. On a $29.99 item with a 15% fee that's about $0.90 per return. Turn this off for channels that don't charge it.
↑ back to the calculatorThe return label, if you pay for it. With FBA, Amazon covers most return labels; for your own store or Amazon FBM prepaid returns, enter the label cost.
↑ back to the calculatorA per-return fee Amazon charges on FBA apparel and shoes, and on other products whose return rate is above the threshold for their category. The amount depends on size and weight.
Where to find it: Seller Central → Fee Preview, or the returns processing fee line in your payments report. If you don't see it, leave 0.
↑ back to the calculatorThe cost to open the box, check the item, repackage it and put it back in stock — your own time, or what your 3PL bills per return.
↑ back to the calculatorThe share of returned units that can be sold again as new. The rest are damaged, opened, or missing parts.
Where to find it: Amazon's FBA customer returns report — "SELLABLE" vs. "CUSTOMER_DAMAGED", "DEFECTIVE" and the rest.
↑ back to the calculatorWhat you get back from units that can't be sold as new, as a percentage of their product cost — selling as used, refurbishing, or liquidation. Zero if they're thrown away.
↑ back to the calculatorWhat it costs to get rid of an unsellable unit: Amazon's removal or disposal order fee, or a liquidator's charge.
↑ back to the calculatorWhat you get
Everything one return costs you that you don't get back: the fulfillment fee, ad spend, Amazon's admin fee, return shipping and handling, and the lost product when the unit can't be resold. The breakdown shows which part is biggest.
↑ back to the calculatorCost per return × returns per month. This is real money out of pocket — not counting the profit you would have made if the sale had stuck.
↑ back to the calculatorAverage profit across every order you ship, after the returns that come back. The smaller line shows what it would be with zero returns — the gap is what returns cost you on every sale.
↑ back to the calculatorThe return rate where profit from the sales that stick is completely eaten by the cost of the ones that come back. Above this, selling more loses more.
↑ back to the calculator